Duchess of Alba(R) and her suitor(L). Spain's fabulously rich Duchess of Alba has signed away her enormous wealth to marry for love at 85. |
Spain's fabulously rich Duchess of Alba has signed away her enormous wealth, string of palaces, priceless works of art and vast swathes of Spanish real estate to marry for love at 85, Spanish media has reported. Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, a regular subject of gossip in Spain's glossy magazines and said by Guinness World Records to have more titles than any other royal on the planet, wants to marry a humble civil servant 25 years her junior. The duchess has divided her fortune between her six children to convince them that her suitor is besotted with her rather than her money and the kinds of possessions that are considered national treasures, reports said. "Every great love story should end in marriage," the duchess told Vanity Fair magazine in May as she posed in the garden of one of her palaces, explaining why she wanted to make social security worker Alfonso Diez, 60, her third husband. All her children were born to her first husband, engineer Luis Martinez de Irujo, son of the Duke of Sotomayor. She shocked many in Spain after his death by marrying former Jesuit priest Jesus Aguirre in 1978. But her recent match has divided the House of Alba. Her son Cayetano Martinez de Irujo, the Duke of Salvatierra, said just a few weeks ago he had only met his mother's suitor three times and she shouldn't marry because of her historic responsibility. It looked as if the duchess had caved in to pressure from her children and a rumored request from Spain's King Juan Carlos not to formalize her relationship. "I still don't know why my children are causing problems," the duchess complained to Spanish radio station La Cope in February. "We aren't hurting anyone. If only things could be fixed... Alfonso doesn't want anything, he's renounced everything. He doesn't want anything but me." The duchess, who appears to struggle to speak and often needs support to walk, allayed her children's worries by dividing up her fortune in early July, reported media, including Spanish celebrity magazine Hola! The duchess's fortune includes palaces and mansions throughout Spain, paintings by the likes of Velazquez, Goya and Rubens and huge stretches of land. Her wealth is estimated at between 600 million and 3.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion). (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies)
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據西班牙媒體報道,腰纏萬貫的西班牙阿爾巴女公爵在85歲高齡之際,簽字放棄巨額財富,包括多座宮殿、價值連城的藝術珍寶、以及大片西班牙房產,只為嫁給心上人。 卡葉塔娜?菲茨-詹姆斯?斯圖亞特經常在西班牙時尚雜志上曝光。據《世界吉尼斯紀錄大全》記載,她是全球擁有最多頭銜的皇室成員。她要下嫁給一名小她25歲的普通公務員。 報道稱,女公爵為了說服子女們相信她的追求者愛的是她的人而不是她的錢,或是所謂的國家財富,而將財產分配給了自己的6個子女。 今年五月,她在自己一座宮殿的花園里接受《名利場》雜志采訪時說:“每一段真愛最后都應走向婚姻”,解釋了為什么她要選擇60歲的社保工作者阿方索?迭斯做她第三任丈夫。 她的子女都是她和第一任丈夫索托馬約爾公爵之子、工程師路易斯?馬丁內斯·德·伊魯霍所生。路易斯去世后,她在1978年嫁給前耶穌會神父阿奎爾,令許多西班牙人為之震驚。 但是她的第三次婚姻卻遭到家人反對。她的兒子、薩爾瓦鐵拉公爵卡耶塔諾?馬丁內斯·德·伊魯霍幾周前稱,他才見了他母親的追求者3次。他認為母親不該再嫁人,因為她承擔著歷史責任。 女公爵似乎已經屈服于來自子女的壓力,也有傳言稱西班牙國王胡安?卡洛斯勸她不要動真格的。 今年2月,女公爵接受西班牙電臺La Cope采訪時抱怨道:“我不明白孩子們?yōu)槭裁匆钃衔?。?/p> “我們沒有傷害任何人。只要能結婚,阿方索什么都不要,他已經放棄一切。他只想和我在一起。” 據西班牙名人雜志Hola等媒體報道,女公爵7月初將自己的家產分配給了子女,減輕了他們的顧慮。女公爵看起來說話頗為吃力,走路也常要人攙扶。 女公爵的財產包括西班牙境內的宮殿和宅邸、委拉斯凱茲、戈雅、魯本斯等名家的畫作、以及大量地產。據估計資產總值在6億至35億歐元(約合49億美元)之間。 相關閱讀 (中國日報網英語點津 實習生沈清 編輯:Julie) |
Vocabulary: fabulously: exceedingly; extremely(難以置信地,驚人地) sign away: to dispose of or lose by or as if by signing a document(簽字放棄) glossy magazine: 用優(yōu)質有光紙印刷并有很多圖片的雜志,服裝雜志 suitor: a man who is courting a woman(求婚者) besot:to muddle or stupefy, as with alcoholic liquor or infatuation(使沉醉,使如癡如醉) divide the House: 付諸表決,(英國下院中)分贊成或反對兩組進行表決 cave in: to yield completely, esp under pressure(投降,屈服) allay: to reduce the intensity of; relieve(使緩和,減輕) |